The events industry has always been important but now, at a time when the industry is attracting more spend from an increasingly sophisticated buyer, the real worth of the sector is being realised as Scotland successfully holds its first events exhibition and prepares for the launch of its first ever Event Awards.

The importance of events both as a means of direct promotion, as well as injecting wealth into the economy, the strength of business tourism and the events that fuel them to the marketing industry, is being recognised for the first time, with the launch of the inaugural Scottish Event Awards, taking place at Glasgow Science Centre in September this year.

The awards themselves are being held in recognition that the events sector is now mature enough to be acknowledged as a significant discipline in its own right in the marketing and promotion fields. Evolving technology and nous has increased the sophistication of events, and ingenious planning has proven that venues which even ten years ago would have been considered impractical – if not inconceivable – as locations for high quality events and promotion can be utilised successfully, resulting in memorable experiences driving powerful marketing messages to a captured, elite target audience.